Somalia famine baby back from brink of death

FILE - This composite image shows baby Minhaj Gedi Farah at various dates of his recovery at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) hospital in Dadaab, Kenya. Top row, shows Minhaj as he arrived at the hospital on Tuesday July 26, 2011. Below-left shows Minhaj on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011. Below-right shows Minhaj on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. In July, Minhaj was one of dozens of limp babies under mosquito net shrouds in the sweltering wards of the IRC hospital in Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp, but after months of intensive feeding the Somali boy has the chubby cheeks and cheeky smile of most babies his age. (AP Photo)
— AP

FILE - This composite image shows baby Minhaj Gedi Farah at various dates of his recovery at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) hospital in Dadaab, Kenya. Top row, shows Minhaj as he arrived at the hospital on Tuesday July 26, 2011. Below-left shows Minhaj on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011. Below-right shows Minhaj on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. In July, Minhaj was one of dozens of limp babies under mosquito net shrouds in the sweltering wards of the IRC hospital in Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp, but after months of intensive feeding the Somali boy has the chubby cheeks and cheeky smile of most babies his age. (AP Photo)
/ AP

Many of the new arrivals come in with diarrhea, cases of cholera, or secondary infections. Amin and other aid agencies say that deaths from illness are likely to rocket as weakened immune systems contend with the cold rains and diseases spread by puddles of dirty water.

The U.N. Children's Fund said around 168,0000 acutely malnourished children under the age of 5 could die within weeks. They are concerned about infectious diseases like measles, cholera and malaria, particularly in the dirty and overcrowded camps in the capital of Mogadishu.

"The famine is not over ... Children are dying on a daily basis," said Hannan Sulieman, UNICEF's deputy representative for the Somalia mission. "Malnutrition has been way above emergency levels for over 10 years."

She said that her organization was planning to maintain current levels of aid until August or September next year, when Somalia would have had a long and a short rain harvest.

The famine is the worst emergency to hit Somalia for a generation. The U.N. has appealed for $1 billion and has got $779 million so far.

But aid still doesn't reach many of the starving. Islamist militias battling the weak U.N.-backed government have forbidden many aid agencies to operate in their territory, exacerbating the effects of a severe drought.

So even after their parents have struggled through the mud, have made it past the militias and have staggered into the hospital, it is still too late for many, said Amin.

"I'm coping with it but sometimes it's heartbreaking. People are suffering. Sometimes they die in front of you," he said. "Sometimes you want to help but the numbers are just so high. There are just so many."

But seeing children like Minhaj recover gives him the strength to go on.